Organic waste material, such as municipal wastewater or livestock manure, can present problems when generated on a large scale. Organic waste material can be a health risk and a nuisance. The disposal of Organic Food Resource Material is normally collected from the point of generation, hauled to a landfill and dumped without any further processing to harvest the resources contained within the material. It is well documented that the off-gas from this material in the forms of CO2, H2S and CH4 has significant and harmful effects upon the environment. All waste at a landfill is processed with vehicles that utilize some form of fuel adding to the carbon footprint when processing. Traditional composting is not always feasible due to the commercial locations or sea faring vessels. Composting has been initiated at numerous landfill facilities. It is a lengthy process requiring a strict protocol to maintain the proper decomposition parameters without odors and requires energy intensive specialized motor vehicles and machines to maintain the process. Additionally, removal of off gassing of CO2, H2S and CH4 can also poses a problem. Climate and location can provide challenges, particularly in climates of extreme cold and heat. With many large-scale generators of significant quantities of food waste, on-site location for processing the OFRM is required. Additionally, vermin and scavenger animals and other obstacles can become an immediate problem associated with compost storage.
Decomposing organic waste can also release greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide, as well as hydrogen sulfide which is the odorous smell associated with rotting garbage and thus can lead to a source of air and water pollution. Strategies for dealing with organic waste in large quantities are therefore needed. Organic waste material can be converted into useful products or can have useful products extracted from it. This conversion can be done within waste conversion facilities, such as, for example, an anaerobic bio-digester. Anaerobic bio-digesters generally process the organic material by treatment with organisms, which can be obligate or facultative anaerobic bacteria. These organisms can, using biochemical reactions, convert organic material into a variety of products. Among these products are a mixture of gases, generally referred to as biogas, and a mixture of liquids and solids, generally referred to as biodigestate.
Biogas can include methane, carbon dioxide, and amounts of other gases. Biogas can be burned to provide electricity locally, and can also be transferred to utility companies or transmission networks as natural gas. However, biogas from an anaerobic bio-digester can contain impurities that must be removed before transmission to utility companies. These impurities, which can include carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide can be harmful to the environment and are generally disposed of as waste products.
Concerns about overuse of fossil fuels, based in part on environmental concerns and their substantially non-renewable nature, have generated interest in biological sources of energy. Biological energy sources can be desirable because the processes used to produce or extract them are generally less damaging to the environment. Biological energy sources can also be renewable because they are generally derived from plant and/or animal material.
Bio-production facilities can use biological organisms and processes to generate useful products, including biological energy sources, from raw materials. Examples of such bio-production facilities include ethanol plants and bio-diesel plants, where organisms, such as yeasts or algae use biochemical processes to generate from a feedstock, products that can be useful, such as ethanol or triglycerides, respectively.
However, one common problem of stand-alone waste conversion facilities and bio-production facilities is that they use products that must be acquired from external sources. These products include feedstock for the bio-production facilities, and organic material for waste conversion facilities. Importing products from external sources can cause loss of efficiency and can incur significant expenses on the operation of these facilities.
Anaerobic digestion of biological waste to produce biofuels is a growing area of interest as concerns about greenhouse gas emissions grow and the use of, and demand for, alternative and renewable energy sources increases. This form of digestion is the process in which an environment free of oxygen allows certain microorganisms to flourish, consuming biological solids and creating biogas that contains a considerable amount of methane. If not collected, the bio-gas enters the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas with a much stronger greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide. If captured, the biogas can be used to generate heat and/or electricity and/or can be used to eliminate solid wastes. There are a number of limitations in the current implementations of the anaerobic digestion technology. In particular, anaerobic digestion is sensitive to temperature, and if the temperature of the biological solids is too low, then the digestion process will either slow or even halt completely. Slower digestion times require longer retention times that lead to higher costs due to increased digestion tank size. Many anaerobic digestion systems utilize much of the energy produced by the system in the form of heat just to maintain digester temperature and digester function. These temperature requirements normally limit the areas where anaerobic digestion is feasible to a warmer, more temperature stable environment.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a system that reduces the need to dispose of by-products and waste products generated in waste conversion facilities, bio-production facilities, and other facilities. Accordingly, there is a need for alternatives to the traditional compositing methods to address these issues. Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.